Copyright Live 5 News WCSC
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Boeing South Carolina plans to increase production with a facility expansion. Officials with Boeing South Carolina broke ground on a facility expansion in North Charleston on Friday afternoon. The company produces the 787 Dreamliner across South Carolina campuses. The new 1.2 million-square-foot site will work as a final assembly building for airplane production, production support and office space. The more than $1 billion expansion will increase production to a rate of 10 airplanes per month in 2026. Governor Henry McMaster, along with U.S. Representatives Jim Clyburn and Nancy Mace and Joe Wilson, attended the groundbreaking. U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent calls the expansion a testament to President Donald Trump’s economic agenda. “I think South Carolina and this Boeing plant is the model for President Trump’s economic agenda in terms of reindustrializing America,” Bessent says. “We have gotten out of the business of building things, manufacturing, and we are bringing that back home.” Boeing leader of 787 Final Assembly Caroline Hilton McDougal says this expansion is an opportunity for the company to reach former production heights. “During COVID, we went from the program being at rate 14 all the way down to basically being at 1 or 2 airplanes a month, and now we’re on our way back up,” McDougal says. “When we roll out, get back up to the rates that we previously been at, this is going to be the best place in the world that builds wide-body airplanes.” The facility is designed to support the increasing market demand of more than 2,500 orders from 90 customers worldwide. The company already has more than 300 orders this year. Officials expect a future demand of 7,800 widebody airplanes over the next 20 years. An estimated 1,000 new jobs will be created over the next five years from the development. An additional 2,500 jobs are expected to be filled for the site’s construction. Over 6.2 million construction hours will be completed through HITT Contracting and BE&K Building Group.
